July 1. 1492: King of Spain, culminating the Spanish Inquisition, gives all Jews in Spain 30 days to leave the country. Some of the confiscated Jewish assets were then used to finance the voyage of Columbus. 1963: Dr. Samuel B. McKinney leads 400 civil rights marchers from the Central District to downtown Seattle. 35 break off and occupy the mayor's office for 24 hours before being arrested. 1983: Copper miners begin a long, bitter strike against Phelps-Dodge in Clifton, Arizona, in which then-Governor Bruce Babbitt repeatedly deployed state police and National Guardsmen to assist the company.

July 2. 1777: Vermont becomes first union state to abolish slavery.

July 3. 1982: One day after his conviction, on perjured testimony, for the shooting of a policeman, black journalist and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal is sentenced to death, on the basis of his teenage membership in the Black Panther Party, by a Philadelphia jury anxious to go home for the holiday weekend. 1988: U.S. warship Vincennes "accidentally" shoots down commercial Iranian airliner over Persian Gulf, killing 290 civilians.

July 4. 1627: Virginia colony orders "scorched earth" policy against Tanx Phwhatan, Weanocs, Appomattocx, Chicahominies, Warroisquojacke, Nansemonds, and Chesapeakes. 1776: Spurred by unfair taxation issues, the U.S. Declaration of Independence from England begins first successful anti- imperialist revolution in world history. Within 30 years, the U.S. would begin its 200-year legacy of opposing similar revolutions in other countries.

July 5. 1861: Constitutional guarantees of Habeas Corpus suspended by Abraham Lincoln. In the following four years, some 18,000 "subversives" and peace activists were jailed without cause or charges in the U.S. 1961: Seattle City Council and state legislature announce probes of incidents of local police brutality.

July 7. 1979: 2,000 Native Americans and anti-nuclear activists march through the Black Hills (South Dakota) to protest the development of uranium mines in sacred lands.